Neanderthal Cave-Man

Today has been pretty mellow - the morning started off with our weekly date to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market (I'll try to remember to take pictures next week). In addition to the produce and other stalls there are places that serve breakfast. The first time we went we got a huge veggie omelet, last week was apple-cinnamon pancakes, and today we got a breakfast burrito. Luke spent most of the day at his studio preparing for his exhibit and I've been at home working.

Living with Luke is fantastic and I am SO happy to be here, but.....

Luke is a Neanderthal cave-man when it comes to taking care of the house.

This is actually not news to me, but it was so much easier to ignore when he was visiting my place for a few days and on his best behavior, or I was staying at his house and could turn a blind eye to the grunge. Now that it is OUR place I have found that my tolerance for the messiness and dirtiness has plummeted. Part of it is definitely him - he can be pretty gross (toothpaste all over the bathroom sink, rinsing more than washing the dishes) but when I point this out then he really tries harder to be more considerate. Part of it is that I really like my house to be clean and we have very different standards of what that constitutes (such as whether it's acceptable to leave a trail of popcorn throughout the house or crumbs all over the kitchen counters or overflowing trashcans). Does that mean that I have to get used to doing more housework? Um, that's unappealing. And part of it is that I spend the day working from home, so the mess/dirtiness bothers me more and I end up spending more time cleaning and straightening up. However, I also don't have an hour-plus commute - does that mean that I should spend an hour more than him taking care of the house? Cause really, I can't expect him to scrub the stove-top when he's come home after evening rush-hour.

And it's only been EIGHTEEN days of living together! Lord help me.